Caged small animals, such as rats, hamsters or rabbits among other examples, tend to gnaw on objects including their water bottle if it is accessible. Such gnawing can damage or destroy anything but very hard materials. Consequently, watering devices for caged animals must be designed to resist gnawing or be positioned out of reach of the animal.
Water bottles designed for use with mesh walled cages avoid the problem by locating most of the water dispensing structure outside of the cage. A bottle secured to the outside of the cage has a water dispensing tube which extends a short distance into the cage through an opening in the mesh wall. Water bottles of that kind are not compatible with cages which have solid walls of glass or other material and in some situations may be inconvenient with mesh walled cages because of space restrictions or for other reasons. Under those circumstances the water bottle must necessarily be inside the cage where it is exposed to gnawing.
Water bottles formed of metal or thick glass are gnaw resistant but are also undesirably expensive because of the cost of the materials and fabrication costs and/or the need for careful handling to avoid breakage. Cost is a particularly important consideration in the distribution of water bottles for small animal cages. Many purchasers are children or others of limited means. Biological laboratories, zoos and the like may need to purchase such bottles in large quantities and thus must also pay careful attention to cost.
Prior water bottles designed for installation inside a small animal cage or in other situations where the bottle is exposed to gnawing must be formed of costly material such as metal or thick glass if reasonable durability is to be realized. A construction which enabled the water dispenser to be formed of more economical material such as plastics for example, would be highly advantageous from the cost standpoint provided that it resists damage from gnawing.
One solution to this problem in the prior art is to provide a metal guard or shield in conjunction with a bottle formed of soft, inexpensive plastic or the like. Although the guard prevents the animal gnawing on the bottle, it unfortunately provides the animal with the footing and opportunity to climb on the guard and bottle assembly. If there is no top to the animal enclosure, as with terrarium style housings, the animal may escape from atop the bottle assembly. And, of course, the metal guard or shield adds expense to the watering device, as does the cover which is required to keep the animal within the cage.
The present invention is directe to overcoming one or more of the problems discussed above.